Connected, or What It Means to Live in the Network Society (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In the twenty-first century, a network society is emerging. Fragmented, visually saturated, characterized by rapid technological change and constant social upheavals, it is dizzying, excessive, and sometimes surreal. In this breathtaking work, Steven Shaviro investigates popular culture, new technologies, political change, and community disruption and concludes that science fiction and social reality have become virtually indistinguishable.

Connected is made up of a series of mini-essays-on cyberpunk, hip-hop, film noir, Web surfing, greed, electronic surveillance, pervasive multimedia, psychedelic drugs, artificial intelligence, evolutionary psychology, and the architecture of Frank Gehry, among other topics. Shaviro argues that our strange new world is increasingly being transformed in ways, and by devices, that seem to come out of the pages of science fiction, even while the world itself is becoming a futuristic landscape. The result is that science fiction provides the most useful social theory, the only form that manages to be as radical as reality itself.

Connected looks at how our networked environment has manifested itself in the work of J. G. Ballard, William S. Burroughs, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, K. W. Jeter, and others. Shaviro focuses on science fiction not only as a form of cultural commentary but also as a prescient forum in which to explore the forces that are morphing our world into a sort of virtual reality game. Original and compelling, Connected shows how the continual experimentation of science fiction, like science and technology themselves, conjures the invisible social and economic forces that surround us.

One of our most exciting and innovative cultural theorists, Steven Shaviro is the author of Doom Patrols (1997), The Cinematic Body (Minnesota, 1993), and Passion and Excess (1990). He is professor of film studies and English at the University of Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1 edition (October 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816643636
• ISBN-13: 978-0816643639
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #164,158 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Well thought out and written but with a warning..., February 17, 2009

By	L. Chrishaun Keller "Sique" (Austin) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Connected features a well thought out and presented vision of the world as it may become if we don't give thought to the consequences of becoming a network.

To this end, Shiviro quotes Warren Ellis, Nietzsche, Phillip K. Dick and J.W. Jeter , the author of Noir, the backbone of his argument.

Many have dismissed this text, stating that when one uses fiction, as Shiviro has to explain theory, then any point can be proven.

That is only true to a point and is in essence the point of the text. Creators of speculative fiction have been a set point for many of the technologies we benefit from today. With the ideas they introduce, they also warn us what may happen if we aren't careful. Many, however, have bought into the technology in the attempt to be 'cutting edge' without thinking about the consequences. And to an ever growing number of us, it has become an addiction.

This is the warning that Shiviro provides us. There are many ways the future can end up and it may never be as he sees it, but it is worth thinking of the future cost for today's actions.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Network of Connected, March 23, 2006

By	K. Sekelsky "college student" (York, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When first openning this book, I was a bit unsettled by the lack of of Table of Contents and clearly laid out chapters. However, looking back, this would have completely hindered the text's content. Connected brings about many topics, through many references and allusions, in a continuous flow that could not easily be marked by chapter titles and divisions.

Through in-depth discussion of writings and lyrics from Phillip K. Dick to music artist Beck, Shaviro brings about both awareness and concerns in regards to the post-modern networked society. While the book is technically a series a short essays, all able to stand alone, they often reference each other, the same works, or the same topics. In this way, the text itself can be seen as a self-contained network, with each essay being a single node, working with the others, to make up the complete book.

While Shaviro doesn't necessarilly establish any strong theories or philosophies unique to this text, the way he manages to bring together analyses of various other documents not only gives the reader more insight into these specific works, but also gives us a greater awareness of the overwhelming embodiment that is the network.